Apple lawyers hand iPod hash cracking site a DMCA notice

Apple has served the "iPodhash" project with a DMCA takedown notice and is …

Although not a widely-publicized addition, one of the newer "features" Apple has added to its iPods and iPhones is a hash that protects the iTunesDB file, which stores information about what music you have on your iPod and where it's located on the iPod's hard drive. As it turns out, Apple doesn't seem to like people meddling with the iPhone and iPod touch hash, and according to Slashdot, Apple lawyers recently sent a DMCA violation notice to a project that was attempting to reverse-engineer the current version of the iTunesDB protection.

Without the ability to access the iTunesDB file, it's harder (or impossible) for iTunes alternatives like Songbird to work fully with iPods. The hash used on things like the iPod classic was cracked fairly quickly, but Apple changed the iTunesDB hash when it released the iPhone and iPod touch 2.0 firmware. According to the notice, Apple is claiming that attempts to reverse-engineer the iPhone 2.0 hash count as circumvention of its FairPlay DRM, possibly because the new hash is more closely related to Apple's DRM technology. Apple really doesn't want people trying to hack FairPlay, and appears to be nipping the iPod hash project in the bud before too much progress is made.

In this case, the project received a DMCA anticircumvention notice rather than a DMCA takedown notice (which deals only with copyright), so the situation is a bit different than in many of the DMCA news items that you see here on Ars. It's still unclear just how the iTunesDB hash is related to FairPlay, as well as what the legal ramifications of the project are, so the team is currently evaluating its options. There's still hope for iPodhash, but I wouldn't place any bets on a speedy return.

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